1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an industrial field of electric motors employed in electrical equipment for vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, some of this kind of electric motors have a structure wherein a cylindrical brush holder in which brushes are accommodated is attached to an opening end of a yoke. Additionally, a feeding coupler in which feeding terminals used to feed power to the brushes are fitted is formed in the brush holder. In such an electric motor, when a known brush holder is molded using a resin, the feeding terminals are embedded as integral parts of a coupler case that is formed in the brush holder thus forming the feeding coupler in the brush holder.
A problem with the above-described known electric motor is that when the brush holder is molded using a resin, the feeding terminals must be inserted during the molding process. The molding is therefore time-consuming and more expensive. Additionally, when a variety of external couplers are employed, brush holders having feeding terminals associated with the external couplers embedded therein must be manufactured separately. This prevents the interchangeability of parts.
With the conventional electric motors, in addition to the step of molding the brush holder using a resin while inserting the feeding terminals, a step of electrically connecting lead stays for supporting the brushes to ends of the feeding terminals is needed. This is not only time-consuming but also poses a problem that a larger number of electrical contacts leads to a higher possibility of occurrence of imperfect feeding. The present invention attempts to solve these problems.